


Opposites Attract [Archived]

by the_fox333



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-18 18:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8172253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_fox333/pseuds/the_fox333
Summary: NOTE: Yeah, this is effectively abandoned. (Sorry!) Maybe someday, I'll rewrite it, at which point I'd link it here, but no promises. :(Peridot is your stereotypical nerd, Lapis is the emotionless cool kid. They couldn't possibly be more different... right?Rated T for future romantic fluff.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapters and frequent time-skips are the bread-and-butter of the beginning of this story, so bear with me here. I just need to get to the good parts.

Peridot had never been tall. Even at 16, she stood at a mere 4'9", or 5'2" counting her hair. Usually this didn't bother her too much, but when she was being leered at by a six-foot wall of muscle, it became a little more evident.

"Hey, Peri," Jasper grinned rather menacingly. "How'd you do on that History homework?"

Peridot really wanted to tell her to shut up and go bully someone else, but she wasn't sure that would go over well. Instead she stammered, "I, uh; I forgot it..."

"Oh, come on, Peri," Jasper frowned. "We both know that's not-"

"Jasper, would you stop picking on the younger students!"

Peridot let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Pearl stormed up and glared at Jasper, not quite her height but certainly taller than Peridot. Pearl wasn't exactly her favorite person in the world, but anyone was better than Jasper.

Jasper rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You don't have anything on me, 'Ms. Hall Monitor'," she rolled her eyes. "As far as you know, I haven't done anything wrong."

"Stow it, Jasper," Pearl snapped. "I know as well as you that you were about to copy Peridot's homework." Turning to Peridot, she softened her tone. "Isn't that right, Peridot?"

Peridot sighed and looked away. "Maybe," she shrugged, hugging her books to her chest.

"Well, either way," Pearl glared at Jasper, "you ought to watch your behavior. We're seniors; we're supposed to set a good example for the lowerclassmen!" Jasper shrugged and walked away, Pearl stalking off in the opposite direction. Peridot rolled her eyes and continued on her way to lunch.

 

"Hey, P-dot! Over here!" Amethyst called, waving from across the cafeteria. Peridot shouldered her backpack and walked over, dropping her books on the table with a loud _thud_.

"What's up, my main man?" Amethyst grinned. "School killing ya yet?"

"Not really," Peridot shrugged. "I do have a lot of work for Calculus, though." Opening her textbook, she leafed through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

"Ah, relax, Periwinkle," Amethyst nudged her. "It helps to take some time away from work. Trust me, it's a lot less stressful. I was just telling Ruby about this awesome joke Bismuth told me..."

Peridot wasn't really listening, because someone much more important had just walked in. Lapis Lazuli, widely regarded as the coolest person in school, was wearing her usual leather jacket, band shirt, skirt, ripped leggings, and black army boots. Carrying a tray loaded with 'fresh' pizza from the cafeteria kitchen, she sat down at a completely empty table near the vending machines, as she had presumably been doing for all three years of her high school experience. Casually slicking her hair back, she took a bite, never changing her trademark emotionless face.

Peridot was in love.

But what could someone as cool and unapproachable as Lapis want with a dorky sophomore like Peridot? Did she even like girls? The same thoughts ran through her head as if rehearsed. As always, she sighed and turned away, catching the end of Amethyst's joke.

"...and the frog looks at them and says, 'Readit!'" Ruby howled with laughter, and her girlfriend Sapphire smiled amusedly. "Whaddaya think, Peri-dactyl?" Amethyst grinned expectantly.

"That's pretty good," Peridot lied, faking a smile. Amethyst went back to arguing with Ruby about who could punch the hardest, and Peridot zoned out, absorbed in her Calculus homework. When the bell rang to signal the next period, she absently packed up and drifted down the hall to her last class.

 

Leaping off the third step of the bus like a self-styled ninja, Peridot thanked the driver and dashed up driveway to her house. Skidding to a halt in the foyer, she tossed her shoes by the door and carried her backpack up the stairs to her room. Locking the door to ward off parents, she opened up her computer and clicked straight to Tumblr. Her account, dorito-nerd-speaks, was the one place she could feel truly at home and accepted. How could she not, surrounded by such a friendly community of fellow fandom enthusiasts?

Scrolling through her ask box, one particular anonymous ask caught Peridot's eye. "will you be attending this years anon-con?" the user had asked.

Peridot spun around and smacked her forehead. She had totally forgot about Anon-Con! It was an annual all-fandom convention for any and every Tumblr user under the sun (or in front of the computer screen). Everyone wore masks to preserve their identities and went only by their Tumblr URLs, hence the convention's name. It had gotten more than its share of 'non-con' jokes, but since nobody had come up with a better one, the name stuck.

Throwing up a reply saying YES, of COURSE I'm was going to Anon-Con, thank you so much for reminding me, I'm going to work on my mask right now, Peridot pulled open her closet and carefully lifted the shoebox labeled "Anon-Con <3" down from the shelf. Setting it tenderly on her bed, she opened it to reveal her personal mask. This was gonna take a while, but it would be so worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, how I wish Anon-Con was a thing. Somebody please make it a thing.
> 
> dorito-nerd-speaks is an actual Tumblr account. It doesn't have any content, but it's the thought that counts, right?


	2. Anonymity

"Hello, denizens of the Internet, and welcome to Anon-Con XIV! Maps of the convention floor can be found near all entrances, and schedules are located in the reception area. I hope you're ready, because it's time for the greatest weekend of your life!"

Peridot clapped along with everybody else as the convention organizer threw out an arm and the door to the convention center opened. Pre-registered guests like Peridot streamed in, filling the near-empty entrance hall and talking excitedly with one another. Peridot snagged a map and a schedule, finding a bench to sit down on and highlighting events that interested her. With so many groups represented, the schedule was the thickness of a short novel, with tabs to locate different sections and a table of contents two pages long. The printing costs must have been unimaginable, which was probably why the organizers charged $6 a copy.

"CPH character development analysis... Why fanworks are so important... LGBTQ representation in the media..." Peridot muttered, leafing through the book and marking the locations and times on her schedule. "Well, that ought to leave me enough time for everything else," she announced to herself, standing up abruptly- and almost knocking someone over.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry!" she squeaked, backing up hastily. "I didn't see you there, I swear it was an accident-"

"It's cool," the person nodded. They wore a classic Guy Fawkes Anonymous mask, but not the flimsy plastic ones the organizers provided. This looked solid and well-crafted; it was clear the owner had put a lot of time into it. "Name's waterwitch925. You?"

Peridot's eyes widened under her mask. "YOU'RE waterwitch925!?" she exclaimed. "Ohmygosh! I LOVE your account! You're so eloquent, and you argue your points so- perfectly!"

"Heh," waterwitch chuckled. "You probably wouldn't think that if you knew me IRL. But that's why we're here, right? Nobody here does know us IRL."   
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a business card and handed it to Peridot. It contained simply a watery background with a time and room number printed in white.

"I'm doing a panel later today," waterwitch gestured to the card. "Feel free to drop by or whatever." She patted Peridot on the back and turned away. "Nice mask, by the way," she added, nodding again before disappearing into the crowd.

Peridot stared at the card, then up at the space where waterwitch had just been. A personal invitation to a panel run by her favorite user? This day was just getting better and better.

 

Peridot had arrived a full half hour early, determined to get a front-row seat. She wasn't the only one with this idea- waterwitch had a dedicated fanbase- but she still managed to snag a chair near the desk at the front of the small room. As luck would have it, she was behind someone even shorter than her, giving her an unobstructed view when the speaker herself walked in.

Sitting down at the small table, waterwitch gave a small wave. "Hey," she nodded to the audience. "How're you all doing?" A ripple of "good"s and "meh"s ran through the room, and waterwitch nodded again. Peridot had a feeling nodding was her signature expression of acknowledgment.

"I asked the organizers not to put in a topic for this panel, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to talk about," waterwitch explained. "But apparently they needed one for the schedule, so if you're here specifically for whatever BS I made up, feel free to go find a more productive use of your time."

Nobody moved, and waterwitch nodded. "Cool, cool. Let's start this off right. Anybody want to introduce themselves?"

Peridot waited for a few people to go before raising her own hand. "I'm dorito-nerd-speaks," she told the room when she was finally called on. "This is my fourth year of Anon-Con. I mostly blog about Camp Pining Hearts and LGBT+ stuff." Waterwitch didn't seem to recognize her, but it didn't dishearten her too much. One person could only remember so many faces, especially when they weren't real faces. "I'd like to hear you talk about- well, anything, really." Once the rest of the room had gone, waterwitch nodded and rubbed her hands together.

"Right," she announced. "I go by waterwitch925. She/her/hers, bisexual, aesthetics and CPH trash. This is my fifth year of Anon-Con, and my first time running a panel." Someone in the back whistled, and she made a finger gun at them. "I've heard a lot of people mention Camp Pining Hearts, so I guess that's what I'll be discussing. Anybody that's not down for that can leave now." A few people shifted in their seats, but again the room remained full.

"Well," waterwitch shrugged, "guess my followers aren't as diverse as I thought." Several people chuckled. "Anyways, I should probably get talking. That is why you're all here."

And talk she did. From the minute waterwitch began, Peridot was enthralled. As time went on, her voice became more expressive, intonation mirrored by her gestures. If Peridot could see her face, she guessed it would be lit up with passion. She spoke with such intensity, going into extreme detail about every point and debating flawlessly with the audience, that by the time she was done Peridot was convinced that Paula and Percy was just as valid a ship as Percy and Pierre.

Serendipitously, waterwitch wound her presentation down just as the panel's time slot ended. Standing up and taking a small bow, she was rewarded with a standing ovation. Peridot made a point to clap the loudest and the longest, even if her hands did sting. As everybody else filed out, she stayed behind, pretending to retie her shoe.

Peridot 'just so happened' to fall into step beside waterwitch, waiting for the right moment to say something. But waterwitch had other plans. Stepping to the side under the excuse of readjusting her mask, she grabbed Peridot's arm and pulled her along. Peridot helped and stared up at waterwitch through the eyeholes of her mask.

"Sorry," waterwitch apologized. "I just wanted to ask you what you thought." Peridot looked confused, and she elaborated, "About the presentation. How'd I do?"

"I- You did great!" Peridot exclaimed. "I loved it! You were super confident, and you totally changed my perspective! But... why are you asking me privately instead of everybody?"

Waterwitch shifted her weight and slipped a finger under her collar. "I just thought... it would be a little embarrassing, y'know?" Peridot nodded, and waterwitch continued, "Besides, you seemed like the perfect person to ask. You did say you loved my account, and you made it pretty obvious you wanted another chance to talk to me." This time it was Peridot's turn to shift, glad her mask hid her blush. "So, you liked it?" waterwitch concluded.

"Yeah!" Peridot assured her. "I'm telling you, you did great! I thought you were eloquent online, but this was even better!"

"Thanks," waterwitch nodded. "dorito-nerd-speaks," huh? I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Making finger guns at Peridot, she turned and strolled away, hands in her pockets.

Peridot was again stunned into inaction. This was- It was- Peridot wasn't sure any adjective was emotive enough to express how truly amazing this felt. If she could strike up an online friendship with waterwitch925, that would be up there with the best things ever. Giddily, Peridot jogged to the elevator and pressed the button for the artists' exhibition floor, putting an extra spring in her step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know who waterwitch925 is, get out. (Jk, don't; I love ya.)
> 
> It's no error that waterwitch is immediately described with female pronouns; Peridot would know because her pronouns are in her blog description. (Want proof? Look up waterwitch925 on Tumblr. I wouldn't be able to stand not owning the blogs I invented. :P )


	3. Who?

Scrawling a circle around the final answer, Peridot slammed her textbook shut and shoved it off to he side. Opening her laptop, she clicked the Tumblr bookmark and waited impatiently as the page loaded. Liking a cute piece of fanart, she realized that the little blue circle with a "1" in it wasn't at her inbox. Almost trembling with excitement, she opened the Message drop-down and selected the most recent conversation.

"hey hey hey", waterwitch had written. "liked the rest of anoncon?"

"YES!!!" Peridot typed back. "You?"

Almost immediately, waterwitch replied, taking Peridot by surprise. Had she been waiting for an answer all this time? No, that would be silly. She was probably just on constantly, like Peridot herself. "it was fun", the message read. "the panel was pretty cool". "met some cool ppl". "i liked debating in person". "why didn't you say anything?"

Peridot blushed a little. "Nervous", she replied. "Didn't want to look stupid."

"k, k", waterwitch typed back. "i gtg do some hw". "ttyl, k?"

"Ok", Peridot messaged her back. "See you around!" So waterwitch had homework. Well, that should have been obvious; she was probably older than Peridot, but didn't seem much older than college-age. And even then, college-age could be practically anything. Wait, why was she so fixated on waterwitch's age? She was just a person she knew online. If she ever met her again, it would probably be at Anon-Con, or some regular convention if she was really lucky. But it was too much to ask to start an actual friendship.

 

A month was all it took for Peridot to rescind that thought. She quickly fell into a new routine: exchange messages with waterwitch right after school (luckily, they seemed to be in the same time zone), do her homework, idly browse Tumblr and fanfiction sites, and finally eat dinner and chat a bit more before turning in for the night. In this manner she had learned a lot about waterwitch: She was, in fact, in high school; a senior, specifically. She was planning on going to college 'locally', but wouldn't specify where that was. Her favorite color was, fittingly enough, ocean blue, "which you'd probably guess by looking at my page at all ever". She didn't have any pets nor siblings, and her mom had been to jail for month while she was in second grade.

Peridot had told waterwitch about herself, too. She explained she was a sophomore, wrote fanfiction (but was too shy to post it), and had a cat named Diamond. She got straight A's, and had for every year of letter grades ("dang, you're smart"). Her favorite color was peridot green; too bad waterwitch didn't understand how appropriate that was. She was a solid six on the Kinsey scale ("Translation: I'm v gay"), and her parents were often busy with their engineering and corporate management jobs.

The two of them talked so much Peridot felt as though she knew waterwitch almost as intimately as a friend IRL. She mentioned this one day near the end of the month, and waterwitch replied, "yeah, you seem pretty cool". "i mean, i'd offer to meet irl, but we probably dont live anywhere near each other."

Peridot's heart almost stopped. waterwitch had offered to meet in real life? No boundary or state border was going to stop Peridot from meeting her favorite blogger. "I'm sure we could work something out.", she replied, he fingers nearly a blur. "What region do you live in, if you don't mind ms asking?"

The reply came, and when Peridot narrowed it to state, thinking they were probably at opposite ends, she narrowed it again, read the response, and blinked incredulously. The same county. The same town, even. She went to the same exact high school as waterwitch925. This was actually too perfect to be true. "I go to the public library sometimes after school.", she typed. "It'd be cool if we could meet there on maybe Wednesday???"

On the edge of her seat, Peridot stared intently at the conversation window, her heart racing as waterwitch typed her reply. Could this be it? Would she finally get to meet probably her favorite person of all time? Or was it all just some cruel joke played on her for incomprehensible reasons?

"sorry, no." Peridot's heart dropped, and she felt faint for a second. "i have to go to my cousins wedding on wednesday. maybe friday instead?" It was as if new life had poured into her veins. Slamming out the most violent "THAT WOULD BE PERFECT THANK YOU SO MUCH" she'd ever typed, Peridot jumped up and threw herself onto her bed, wearing a smile easily a parsec wide. This was the happiest moment of her life.

 

But then Friday happened, and it got happier. Rather than being distracted, Peridot's focus and intensity tripled, and she was positive she nailed everything she did, even the AP Bio unit test she'd barely studied for. Even Lapis seemed hotter than usual, but she didn't have much time to think about that. Much to Amethyst's dismay, she slammed through all of her homework during lunch and on the bus, and when she hopped off her bike in front of the library, it was with a light backpack and a lighter heart. Finding a table in the empty study section, she pulled out her thermos of vanilla roiboos tea- perfect for calming down- messaged waterwitch her location, and waited.

As she sat there, unable to think of anything but he upcoming meeting, doubt crept into her mind that she supposed should have been there all along. What if this was a joke? How long would she sit here before giving up and leaving? Or what if waterwitch was a jerk? Heck, what if it was Jasper? The last was completely illogical- Jasper had a totally different body type- but Peridot couldn't stop thinking along those lines. Taking another sip of tea, she gazed out the window, waiting to see if anyone she knew walked up. Realistically, she only knew a half dozen seniors or so, and there were hundreds at her school, but maybe she'd at least recognize-

Deep in thought, Peridot almost had a heart attack when somebody tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, shorty," came a familiar voice. "It's your friendly neighborhood waterwitch925. Long time no see, huh?" Peridot turned around eagerly. And almost had another heart attack.

Arms crossed, weight shifted to one leg, and smirking slightly was a face she knew very, very well. She had seen it first when she began high school, and since then, it had occupied dreams and daydreams that made Peridot blush just thinking about. Her brain was having trouble reconciling what she knew of this person with the infinitely chill persona of waterwitch925.

"L-l-la- Lapis Lazul-li?" she stammered, coherence a far-away thought. Lapis rolled her eyes.

"So you already know me," she sighed. "Damn it. Well, there ya go. Lapis Lazuli, the untouchable bastion of cool, actually the trashiest person you've ever met. You happy?" Peridot only stuttered, and Lapis frowned. "Well? You gonna mock me? Going to run and tell all your friends what a nerd Lapis is? Stop stuttering and just say something!"

Peridot took a deep breath, her heart jumping out of her chest and her stomach rebelling. "L-lapis, I- I'm sorry I'm acting so stupid," she gushed. She felt a confession coming on, and she was gonna do it right. "Ever since I saw you, I thought you were really hot and pretty, and I just- I couldn't help myself. Every day at lunch, I'd see you, and I'd just admire you and how cool you were. I wished I could be like you, popular but not assaulted by people. I-" this blush knew no bounds; Peridot would be surprised if her entire body wasn't glowing scarlet- "I dreamed about you. I fantasized. I wanted to hug you, to kiss you, to-" Okay, maybe leave it there. "The point is- Lapis, I'm in love with you." Boom. Drops mic.

Peridot buried her head in her arms, waiting for the inevitable rejection or departure. Lapis snapped. "Oh! You're Peridot Facet, aren't you? You're the one that always stares at me during lunch. Or to use Sapphire's exact words, 'gazes at you like you're some kind of goddess.'" Peridot lifted her head, eyes slightly damp. She was going to kill Sapphire, that was for sure, but Lapis wasn't turning her down rudely.

"I noticed you looking once or twice in junior year, but I figured you were just curious why I had my own table. I thought you were pretty cute-" wHAT- "so I had a few people I knew find out a little more about you. I obviously can't tell anyone my 'secret identity', but I found your Tumblr, and you seemed cool enough I figured I'd follow you back." Lapis stopped, and Peridot realized she was staring openmouthed. "But yeah. I've had an eye on you for a bit, but I always had other girlfriends and boyfriends to occupy me. Then that dick Dave dumped me, and the flow of requests has recently abated, so I was actually thinking about asking you out sometime." This light-headedness might be a problem.

"And now that I know you're dorito-nerd, that's even better. I mean, I thought you were cool online, but combined with you IRL? Damn, you're cute." She was dead. That had to be it. She was dead, and this was heaven. "So really, what I'm trying to say here is how about Monday afternoon at the theater?" And if she hadn't in fact died, she had now. Or at least passed out.

"Rude," Lapis smiled to herself as she took out her psychology binder and opened to some surveys to add to her data table. Hopefully Peridot would wake up soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the real reason I wrote this can begin: pure, concentrated fluff. :3
> 
> _(cough cough except that that's not actually the plan at all just yet)_


End file.
